about

When d_rradio’s three-years-in-the-making self-titled opus maximus hit the racks back in March 2008, they set the bar dangerously high for electronica. The album swiftly stacked up the plaudits: Silent Ballet declared that the album would “undoubtedly go down as one of the premier electronic releases of the year”, Rob da Bank proclaiming it an “absolutely incredible electronic album”, with Losing Today calling it “an enchanting and exquisite experience”. Hell, it even had reviewers at The Wire breaking into a smile.

There are a wide range of remixes on offer here: from the crackling chambertronics of Cathode’s rework of Paper Soul, to Manual’s exemplary dark, opaque version of A Life Alive, through to the beautiful beat-driven Populous’ aptly-named Twisted remix of Rest of Your Life. The journey continues, with Depth Affect’s skittering, icily minimal re-rub of Bag of Lovely nestling alongside The Matinee Orchestra’s Victorian Clockwork techno take on Wish For More Wishes and Ylid’s magnificently haunting vocal rework of Blow Out. Maintaining a suitably high standard are Juxta Phona turning So Long into a juddering glitchfest, Piano Magic’s childlike and sublime reworking of Way Out, Matthew Rozeik’s sombre yet swirling light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel version of Lifted, and finally Port-Royal’s dramatic revamp of Long Way Home. Above all, ‘. . .remixed’ is an album that retains what is so great about d_rradio – eschewing the blandscape coffee-table Warp-alikes and displaying that electronic music can be diverse, invigorating, soulful and, above all, human.